www.nordis.net

The Supreme Court’s decision acquitting Hubert Webb and his co-accused of the grisly Vizconde massacre committed almost two decades ago raises valid questions regarding the quality of justice or lack of it in this country. While Webb et al’s acquittal is not equivalent to their being innocent of the crime they were charged and convicted of earlier, people are asking the question as who then were really responsible for the crime.

This has prompted some quarters to call for the reopening of the case most probably in response to Lauro Vizonde’s appeal to the government that it takes the lead in finding the perpetrators of the crime if indeed Webb et al are not the ones responsible. Especially so because by the operation of the double-jeopardy principle in our legal system, they cannot be charged and prosecuted for the same crime they have recently been acquitted of.

So, what the whole incident has shown is the ineptness of the prosecutorial arm of the justice system in the country today. Its failure to apprehend the real culprits (or if they do get them) their inability to build a solid, air-tight case against them is a gross disservice both to t he family of the victims as well as to those earlier convicted but eventually acquitted of the charges against them. Fifteen years in prison is no small joke for those who are innocent of the crime.

The forensic capability of investigating units of the police and the NBI have to be improved if crimes are to be solved expeditiously. But even if their forensic expertise is world-class investigators are still susceptible to political and other pressures as we are witnessing these days in the trial and investigation of the suspects of the Ampatuan massacre.

So, one would need the political will of the highest authority of the land to lend his hand especially in controversial cases involving powerful and well-connected clans and individuals. Like in many countries, wealth and power do influence the dispensation of justice hereabouts despite claims to the contrary.

Then one cannot really expect justice to prevail when the State itself is the source and perpetrator of the crime being investigated as in the gross human rights violations committed during the Arroyo administration which continues up to the present administration, especially when the victims are tagged as “leftists”,or their sympathizers.

In those cases it is not the quality of justice under question because one cannot even hope for a semblance of one when security forces of the State are the ones who stand accused as perpetrators. How many of the murderers of the victims of OPLAN BANTAY LAYA ever charged and brought before any court of justice despite the findings of international bodies of their culpability?

None. No wonder then that the culture of impunity prevails among elements of the security forces and crimes continue to be committed in the name of “peace and order”. # nordis.net